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50-year-old mother-of-four in East Jakarta made headlines last week when she sent a legal notice to two tobacco giants to compensate her for her addiction, declining health and financial loss from consuming their products.

In the letter signed Feb. 19, Rohayani demands no less than Rp 1 trillion (US$72 million) in compensation from Gudang Garam and Djarum.

Rohayani, who puffed her first cigarette when she was 10 years old, said it was “not about winning or losing the case”, but about conveying a message to the public that there is room for the companies to be held accountable.

“I shared my first cigarette with a friend, also a child. It was very easy for minors to get cigarettes,” she told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

She accused the companies of a lack of control over who bought their products and said the “poverty-causing side effects are not [explained] by the cigarette companies”.

“If I have money, I will buy cigarettes instead of prioritizing my household needs,” said Rohayani, who works odd jobs to make ends meets, such as cleaning at cemeteries and offering people umbrellas during a downpour.

Tobacco consumption has increased significantly over the last three decades, according to a 2015 study from the Health Ministry, driven by population growth, low cigarette prices, massive marketing by the tobacco industry and a lack of awareness about the negative impacts of smoking.

The study found that Indonesians spent around Rp 208 trillion on cigarettes in 2015, based on an assumed average price of Rp 700 per cigarette. That consumption causes an estimated 200,000 deaths annually.

“[So] this is about sending an effective eye-opening message to the consumer society that they can sue producers if their products cause harm,” said Rohayani, who is having a hard time quitting. She burns through a pack a day.

Ahmad Syauqi, a 21-year-old student in Yogyakarta, said smoking took up a significant part of his monthly allowance.

He decided to control his addiction around a month ago by only rewarding himself with a single cigarette after studying, doing his laundry or tidying up his bedroom. “Every time I finish a chore, I buy a single cigarette. I prohibit myself from buying a pack, because otherwise I’d be chain-smoking,” he said.

That trick has helped him cut back consumption to just five cigarettes a day. Syauqi, therefore, does not completely agree with Rohayani’s cause, arguing that “fighting addiction is hard; but it is a matter of choice”.

Society, he said, also shared some blame for “silently supporting the image that smoking in public makes you a friendly, carefree person”.

Mia Juanita, a 57-year-old housewife in South Jakarta who has been smoking since she was 15, said that, in the face of parental reminders, warnings on cigarette packs and exposure to literature on the dangers of smoking, cigarette consumers should know full well that they put themselves at risk.

“I don’t see that pressing charges against companies can prevent people from smoking. It’s the consumers that have to be lectured about their choices,” she said. (gis)